Norse Cutting & Abandonment AS (NCA) was established in Tananger outside Stavanger, Norway in late 1999. NCA was one of several companies under the Norse industrial umbrella in Tananger. The focus of the company was, as the name says, plug and abandonment and decommissioning activities, an area several of the cofounders had significant time on consulting for the oil and gas industry in Stavanger.

"When planning these well abandonment and decommissioning projects, we realised that there were a lot of solutions lacking in the industry. The industry was using tools and technologies that were not fit for purpose, and there were an obvious gap to be filled in the market. NCA was created to fill these gaps", says Svein Sølversen, one of the cofounders.

After one year of operation, NCA merged with the sister company Norse Cutting AS, a provider of cold cutting, onsite machining and hot tapping services to the Norwegian market place since 1989. This formed the basis for the maintenance and modification division in NCA and added significant technologies and knowledge about cutting technologies.

In the period from 2000 to 2005, NCA developed several new technologies that now are vital parts of well abandonment and decommissioning projects world wide, and in parallel played vital roles in some prestigious salvage and decommissioning projects in Europe. Some highlights are:

• Developed the worlds first 100% cold cutting equipment package for surface sectioning of multistring conductors, with unmatched reliability and efficiency
• Performing the cutting on decommissioning the worlds largest steel platform (Maureen A decommissioning, 2001-'02)
• Performing the subsea cutting on the Russian submarine Kursk salvage project (2002)
• Developed the worlds first ROV-flyable guillotine saws (Frigg removal of external steel project, 2005-'06)
• Developed the worlds first Internal Multistring Cutting Tool (IMCT) for multistring conductors from 7" through to 36" (2005)
• Received the OTC Innovation Award for the IMCT system in 2005
• Developed the worlds first ROV-flyable external cutting tools (Frigg DP1 jacket removal project, 2006-'08)

By 2005 NCA had developed a broad technology basis with a range of proprietary tools, and established itself as a dominant player in the well abandonment and decommissioning market in the North Sea. In order to secure continuous growth an internationalization strategy was laid out with the ambition to establish one new operational location every year. New equity was raised through the two leading private equity funds Hitec Vision and Energy Ventures in Stavanger, financing the further growth. In 2005, NCA established a subsidiary in Houston, followed by another in Aberdeen in 2006 and Dubai in 2007.

After 7 years with an average 70% organic growth, NCA made its first acquisition; I.O.S. Offshore, a leading supplier of rig mooring services in Norway, adding the third division to the NCA Group.

In 2008, NCA acquired LIS Energy Services in New Orleans and created NCA Energy Services which provides rigless P&A services to the Gulf of Mexico market.

In summer 2008, Hitec Vision sold their NCA shares to Cubera.